


En Route

by missbecky



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Ultimates
Genre: Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-26
Updated: 2013-12-26
Packaged: 2018-01-06 04:22:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1102344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missbecky/pseuds/missbecky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony is having trouble dealing with what Reed did to him. Steve doesn't have time for this.</p>
            </blockquote>





	En Route

**Author's Note:**

> This was written before Cataclysm and posted to Tumblr, which means the set-up I have here has been completely jossed.

Tony is whimpering in his sleep again.

They're en route to their destination. Still two days out. And Steve has about had enough.

He's not stupid. He knows something happened in that lab before the Ultimates showed up. When it was all over, there was Tony, half-naked and covered in blood, grinning with a strange light in his eyes. But he's not talking, and Reed's not talking, and the surveillance footage has all disappeared, which no one can explain because only Reed had access to the system and he certainly wasn't thinking about things like that.

So no one knows what happened and no one is talking. Whatever it was, though, Tony needs to get his shit together. They all do. The Gah Lak Tus swarm isn't going to sit around politely waiting while one of them has a breakdown on the battlefield.

He starts across the room, headed for the couch where Tony lies. Not thrashing around, but very still. If it weren't for those pathetic whimpers, you would never know he wasn't soundly asleep.

Steve does know better, though.

He knows Tony hasn't been sleeping well. He's never seen Tony looking so wretched before, not even when the chemo was at its height and he spent more time curled up around a toilet than he did on his feet. His smiles are as charming as ever, but he's drinking heavily. Quite often Steve catches him just sitting there, his eyes unfocused as he stares at nothing, twining a strand of hair through his fingers; he hasn't had it cut and it's longer now than Steve has ever seen.

Time for this to end. He's nearly there when Tony suddenly jerks awake with a cry. Immediately he curls up on his side, arms over his face, hands clutching at his head. He breathes in short little pants, his feet making little twitching motions.

"Good, you're awake," Steve says. Might as well get it over with.

Tony startles badly, huddling in on himself for a moment. Then he slowly uncurls and looks up at Steve. "Are we there yet?" He sits up and smiles, but it's such a cheap imitation of the real thing that Steve feels something tighten in his chest.

"No," he says. He folds his arms and glowers down at Tony. "What's going on here?" He's not asking because he wants a tearful confession. That's actually the last thing he wants. He just wants to get to the bottom of this and make sure Tony isn't going to be a liability in the coming fight.

"Nothing," Tony evades. He cards one hand through his hair, pushing it back from his eyes, smoothing his palm over the crown of his head. "We're good, Cap. Honest." He smiles again, more sincerely this time, then stands up.

Steve sighs. He doesn't want to bench Tony, because God knows they're going to need his firepower against Gah Lak Tus. But he still isn't convinced. "Are you going to be ready for this?"

Tony looks stung, and opens his mouth to answer, but before he can say anything, Steve continues, "Because I need you out there."

Tony blinks, and his indignation disappears, becomes something disturbingly like pride. "I won't let you down, Cap," he promises.

Steve looks him over, unhappy with what he sees. At this moment he's not sure that he wouldn't prefer the sick man who used to drag himself out of bed in order to join the Ultimates in their latest battle. But if this is the best Tony can do right now…well, they've made do with worse and pulled out a victory before. He'll take what he can get.

 _You better not_ , he thinks.

Aloud he says, "All right, then. Meet me in the war room in five minutes. It's time we started planning this assault."

Tony nods. "You got it."

Steve heads out. At the door he stops and turns around. He's not sure what prompts him to linger, or to say, "Tony. Are you sure you're all right?"

For a moment it looks like there are words poised on Tony's lips, like he's a breath away from actually saying them. Then the moment is gone, and he's just Tony again, with his easy smile and a ready lie. "Of course."

And Steve just nods, accepting the lie.


End file.
